STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's hear what it's like to be in Berlin after the attack on a Christmas market. A British tourist named Mike Fox saw that market soon after a truck smashed into it.
MIKE FOX: I spoke to two people who were lying on the floor with broken limbs, but they were going to be OK. I saw one guy being dragged away with blood on his face. I helped several other people lift the side of one of the stalls up so that they could pull two other people.
INSKEEP: That's one view. And here's another from reporter Nick Spicer, who lives in Berlin. He's near the market and joins us now by Skype. Hi, Nick.
NICK SPICER: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: What's this market like?
SPICER: Well, it's a market that I actually go to with my family a fair amount. And like typical German Christmas markets, there is food available, mulled wine. There are sausages, all kinds of things to warm you up - gingerbread. There are lots of sort of artisinal arts and crafts related to Christmas on sale, Christmas tree decorations and so on. And it's a place where people kind of get together when it's nighttime. And here in Berlin, that starts around 4 p.m. And it's where there's a lot of little lights and candles. And you can just sort of feel warm and amongst friends. So...
INSKEEP: You said typical. There are markets like this all across Germany?
SPICER: There are 70 in Berlin alone. The biggest one, in Cologne, gets 4 million people a year. It is a national institution. And you have - I think you have to take what happened here within that context. Now go one further, the place where the attack occurred, or the incident occurred, is actually right on the square of a memorial to the victims of the Second World War. It's at the memorial church, which was partly destroyed and is left standing partly destroyed as a sort of - you know, a symbol of the need to no longer engage in aggression of any kind. So it's quite ironic.
INSKEEP: And this is the place that the the semi truck smashed into, killing a dozen people.
SPICER: Absolutely, this is the place. It's in the Kurfurstendamm neighborhood. It's sort of a commercial center of Berlin. Some - many, many tourists go there. It's a trendy kind of part of town. It's not upscale, but it's a place where every man can go, every man and woman, and families congregate.
INSKEEP: Now, let me ask one question here, Nick Spicer. We're in the situation where the information that we have about this incident is going to change. It has changed already once this morning. We had learned that authorities had detained or arrested a man described as of Pakistani origin, an asylum seeker, 23 years old. We now have additional information. We're not sure what this person's connection is to the crime. The Berlin police chief is saying today it's not clear if this man actually was the driver of the vehicle. So let's avoid jumping to conclusions there. But what is this doing to Germany's politics, given that Germany has accepted more than a million refugees and migrants?
SPICER: Well, I think it's - it's a hugely shocking incident, Steve. And it's just sort of set in motion a lot of the fears that people have had generated because there have been terrorist incidents in Germany, four of them that haven't actually killed any people, that have claimed - injured some people. And it's a context where there's a big anti-immigrant party making big headway ahead of September, 2017 elections. And Chancellor Angela Merkel is definitely worried about that.
INSKEEP: OK, Nick Spicer in Berlin, thanks very much.
SPICER: Thank you.
INSKEEP: He is a reporter who lives not very far from the Christmas market that was struck by a large truck, killing a dozen people. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.